Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-01-13


tons of the Kings of ancient Assyria,
IN the cruelties of the Emperors
OF Rome, and in the imoecility
of certain of the Princes of India.
King Saul was a man of ability and
judgment when placed over the Israel
ties, but power made him mailman
and led him to destruction. King Neb-
uchadnezzar was at the head of one of
the most absolute governments known
to history, and VIC find him suffering
from some unknown malady which
historians regard as certain form of
insanity. The famous Babylonian mon
arch recorded in an inscription recently
deciphered: "For four years the seat
of the Kingdom did not rejoice my
heart In all my dominions did not
build a high place of power The
precious treasures of my kingdom Ibid
not lay up In Babylon buildings for
myself and the honor of my kingdom
did not lay out. In the worship of
Merodach, my lord, the joyof my heart,
in Babylon, the city OF his sovereignty
and the seat of my empire, / did not
sing his praises. did not furnish his
affairs with victims, nor did / clean out
the canals" From the description here
given it would be difficult to arrive at
any other conclusion than that Nebu-
chadnezzar was laboring under insanity
during the four years of which he
speaks.
Although many of the Roman En-
perors were monsters in human shape,
Tiberius and Domitian surpassed all
the others in the insaneness of their
actions. The former, man of fifty
six when he donned the purple. began
his reign with apparent wisdom and
clemency, but soon gave way to the in
toxication of power. He shut himself
away from the people on the island of
Capera, and from that retreat ordered
those who had incurred his displeasure
to be put to death in the most shocking
manner. Domitian also began his
reign with mildness, but he, too, could
not withstand the temptations of abso-
lutte authority. and became, if possible,
more infamous than Tiberius. Both
these Emperors, while they are regarded
by all as unnatural tyrants, are thought
to have been themselves victims OF
lunacy, and thus not without some ex-
cuse for their cruelty. Theodore the
Great, founder of the Ostrogothic mon
archy, during the latter years of his reign
was the victim of Authorizations. The Or
igin of these was crime. Blinded by
jealousy, and yielding to the evil coun-
sells of his favorites, he ordered the ven
cradle statesman. Lvmmachus. one of
the most upright men of the age, to be
put to death Scarcely, however, had
the order been carried into execution
when the King was seized with remorse
and began to reproach himself for the
deed. His mind, strong rs it had been,
gave way to the strain, and he became
haunted with drcful visions, which ac-
companied him to the end of his life.
As an example of this, it is related that
one day a new kind of fish was placed
upon his table, when he suddenly ut
tered cry of terror and informed his
courters that the head of the fish was
like that of the murdered Lymmachus.
Several of the Kings of France have
been mentally intirm. Among these
was Charles VII, the Victorious. The
closing days of this monarch were rem
dered miserable by the undutiful con-
duct of his son, who afterward became
King under the title of Louis XI. and
was known rs ''the Tiberius of France.
The young Prince was continually
plotting against his father, until the
latter finally became broken hearted
and deranged. He had an ever-present
fear of assassination, and utterly re-
fused food, lest it should be poisoned.
He passed several successive days
in voluntary confinement without par
taking OF nourishment of any kind.
After much del Liberation his council re.
solved that force be employed to rescue
him from the horrible death he was
bringing upon himself through the feal
of death. Nutriment in the form OF
jellies were accordingly administered,
but it was too late. Nature, thus cruel
ly outraged, refused to rally, and
Charles VII, after successful reign Of
thirty-eight years, went down, crazy
old man, to the miserable death Of
starvation.
Charles TX. of France was next thing
to an imbecile from his youth, but aftel
Catherine de Medici had induced him te
sign the decree that sent thousands O.
innocent persons to eternity in the
massacre of st. Bartholomew Day, HI
became confirmed monomaniac. A
the time of the execution of his order
all the brutality in his nature exulted
and he heard with joy the shouts of the
murderers in the streets of Paris. Blu
a narrowing remorse afterward tool
possession of him. Visions of bloot
startled him at all hours of the da,
and night. He became pre-,
to the most direful fears. A
one moment he would break fortl
in violent EXPLANATIONS, and would thel
relapse into the quetude of heart-rend
ing despair He heard voices in the ali
reproaching him for his cruelty to tn
, Huguenots, and the ghosts of his muir
dered victims never forsook his pres
ence. His faithful physic an, Ambros,
Pare, never deserted him, but no relic
could be afforded the troubled monarch
J For many months prior to his death h
could scarcely rest at all. and when h,
died it was in the midst of the agonie
, and grief Of an avenging conscience.
Charles MI. of Sweden, sometime
styeed the Mailman of the North, is an
other case of rovaI lunacy. In som
respects he was man of ability. but il
one direction he was monomaniac
J This was his all-consuming passion TO
: conquest and military glory. His coun
try was at that time the most powerful
: nation of the North. and his great de
, sire was to extend its boundaries unit
{ he should be at the head of natiol
/ which would equal that governed b
5. Alexander the Great or Genghis Kahn
He did have some successes. but a
J length he attacked the Russian Empire
and the Russians. under Peter tn
| Great, taught him that the power of hi
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